RippleReader: eBooks You Can Personalize

September 21, 2010

Narrate Your Own eBooks for Your Kids

I know that I post a lot on literacy and how to get reluctant readers reading. I believe that we (all of us) need to unlock a love of reading in every child! One idea that comes up again and again from literacy experts is to use Books on Tape. RippleReader read one of my posts on literacy and sent me information plus a free RippleReader microphone so that I could test out their site.

I didn’t realize that RippleReader allows to you to either buy ebooks or make a personalized recording of the ebook that you purchased! That is kind of fun! The ebook titles are for ages 2-7 and are primarily picture books but there are also a few easy readers. The ebooks range in price from $3.49 to $9.99. Some of the most popular titles include The Kissing Hand, The Teacher from the Black Lagoon, and The HICCUPotamus. This might make a great present for relatives to give to grandchildren, nieces/nephews or cousins! And parents too, of course! AND it’s another way to motivate a reader to read by letting him or her make their own recording of a book! That is really fun stuff!

RippleReader also sells audio books that you can watch on your computer and they are also developing an app for the iPad. Here’s their blurb:

Ripple Reader offers children’s picture eBooks to be read in an eReader on the computer just like eBooks on Kindles, iPads and Nooks. But, Ripple is the first children’s picture eBook store and reader in the original picture book format. (The others are animated, or take out huge chunks of pictures and text- which authors hate and begs the question, is that really reading?) Ripple believes that eBooks engage kids with important skill building benefits including:

print concepts

reading readiness

reading comprehension

fluency

vocabulary development

listening comprehension

Not only that, the recordable feature of the books means that either the child or an adult can narrate the eBook in his or her own voice. Kids love having a bookshelf of customizable books on their computer; Parents love buying affordable books for their personal libraries. (The books are yours forever on any computer.) There are hundreds of full color children’s picture books in the Ripple Library with more added each week. Parents can download the free Reader and set up their kids’ accounts in only minutes.

How It Works

Step 1: Download Ripple ReaderFirst time users should download the free Ripple Reader on any computers where children will read and listen to their eBooks. (I tried it and it’s pretty straight forward)

Step 2: Find eBooks
Browse the Ripple library of recordable children’s eBooks. Choose from hundreds of popular titles and sort by age or topic to find just the right book. Once you buy the eBook, it’s yours forever. (The selection is small and I only recognized a handful of books but they all look decent and there is a nice variety of genres)

Step 3: Record the Story
As an option, Ripple allows adults and older readers to personalize each eBook by recording themselves reading the story or inviting another adult to record. Children will also be able to record each story after it is downloaded. (This is the best feature of RippleReader. If you don’t need or want this feature, you may as well buy an ebook app. I think kids will delight in either relatives reading to them — great for long distance grandparents, or siblings or even themselves!)

Step 4: Read and Listen
Kids’ eBooks automatically download into their full screen Ripple Reader where they can read, record and listen over and over.

Thank you for the heads up! I always love a discount on a great book series. It’s so much easier to read the books in order when they are in your house and I always find I can get a kid in the neighborhood to try it so the books get lots of eyeballs!